Internet users, constantly growing; gender gap closes

Mexico finally managed to close the digital gender gap during 2023 and, including, The number of women Internet users now slightly exceeds that of men.

The National Survey on Availability and Use of Information Technologies in Homes (Endutih) 2023made by the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) in collaboration with the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi)found that, for the first time, the percentage of women Internet users was higher than that of men with a difference of 0.4 percentage points.

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In 2023, 81.4% of women used the internet compared to 81% of men. Although it is a small difference, it is the first time that the percentage of female users is higher,” explained the president of Inegi, Graciela Márquez.

In a conference, he explained that this is also due to the fact that women are the ones who use cell phones the most which are a key tool to connect to the internet.

*Source: Inegi / Graphic: Jesús Sánchez.

The survey found that 80.9% of men use a cell phonecompared to 81.8% of women at the end of 2023.

Javier Juárez Mojicapresiding commissioner of the Federal Telecommunications Institute, added that the Endutih 2023 It also shows that the number of Mexicans who use the Internet continues to grow.

The above because The country had 97 million internet users at the end of last yearwhich represents 81.2% of the population aged 6 years or older, as well as an increase of 3.9 million internet users compared to 2022.

The survey also found that Mexicans use the Internet mainly to communicateMeanwhile he second and third place are accessing social networks and entertainment, home being the place from where they connect most.

For the first time, this survey looked at the use of smart devices in the home. The study found that 20% of homes, that is, about 7.7 million, have equipment of this type, with the smart speaker being the most popular, followed by video surveillance systems and entertainment devices.

THERE ARE STILL CHALLENGES

Universal and meaningful connectivity is one of the most relevant and challenging tasks we have today, it is the greatest challenge we are facing because it is nothing other than the possibility for everyone to enjoy a safe, satisfying, enriching online experience, productivity and at an affordable cost,” considered the president commissioner of IFT.

Both Juárez Mojica and Márquez agreed in which, despite the progress, there is still work to dobecause there is still a digital geographical divide and many people do not use the internet due to factors such as literacy, affordability or lack of trust.

Another gap that stands out is the almost 20 percentage points that exist between rural and urban internet users,” commented the president of Inegi.

This is also reflected in that There are states where nine out of 10 people use the internet and have a cell phone.In others, only six out of 10 are in the same situation.

The president commissioner added that there are 12.5 million Mexicans who do not know how to use the internet, while 5.2 million do not have access and 2.5 million because they do not have the necessary monetary resources.

To change the above, he indicated that the IFT has had several digital literacy programs since 2022 and, for this year, is working on developing a truck that serves as a digital classroom to take courses throughout the country.

In the future, he considered that other issues should be addressed, such as helping people to have confidence in the digital world and finding alternatives that allow connectivity to be brought to those places where operators cannot find profitability.

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